It is believed that the invention will find its primary utility in transporting plates and dishes when they are hot and difficult to handle. In the apparatus described here, the dish is placed upon the top surfaces of the cross members and the upper surface of each base member, the handle(s) being locked into place in a lowered position. This places the handles in position where they will not interfere with the loading of the dish. The handles are then pivoted upward into place where they are used to transport the hot dish. The apparatus may also find usefulness transporting cold dishes or other types of articles.
While there are support members for the transport of hot plate (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 2,078,650 to Clark) this does not have a dual positionable handle as the applicant's invention. It is believed that there are no devices in the prior art with similar construction of a transport member with a handle for positioning out of the way during the loading of the dish onto the apparatus.